Viva Engage: How to Create a Corporate Social Network

What is Microsoft Viva Engage

Viva Engage enables companies to create an internal social network, a virtual space where employees can share ideas and gain insights from colleagues by creating and participating in thematic communities.

It is one of the main modules of the Viva suite, the new employee experience platform designed by Microsoft to enhance productivity and well-being in the workplace.

To enable this, Microsoft Viva provides organizations with vertical modules to manage every aspect of the employee experience. Among these, we find Viva Connections, which centralizes resources and communications, Viva Insights, which analyzes data to optimize personal productivity, and Viva Learning, which supports continuous training during busy workdays.

Within the Microsoft Viva ecosystem, the Viva Engage module stands out for its focus on internal communication and company culture, inheriting the features that made Microsoft Yammer famous.

But that's not all, as Viva Engage has modernized communities and enriched them with original features like Storylines, to share updates in a social media style, and the Leadership Corner, which allows management to connect directly with everyone in the organization.

In this way, Viva Engage helps overcome the traditional and formal approach to internal communication, prioritizing active participation and the ideas of each employee.

Viva Engage: What are the benefits for businesses?

Viva Engage, like all Microsoft solutions, is capable of meeting the needs of any organization, from large enterprises to SMEs, thanks to its features that aim to improve communication, collaboration, and engagement, even and especially remotely.

In large companies, where the complex organizational structure and geographical distribution of locations and departments can hinder information exchange, Viva Engage acts as a bridge, facilitating dialogue and strengthening the connection between leadership and business teams.

Through the Leadership Corner, for example, management members have the opportunity to communicate with colleagues in a more direct and authentic way, sharing strategies, updates, and goals to achieve together in order to continue growing the business.

This leads to a higher level of transparency, which not only strengthens trust in the organization but also promotes large-scale alignment.

Similarly, communities become ideal discussion spaces to connect people with common interests or responsibilities, fostering coordination among remote teams or between departments and dispersed locations.

For SMEs, where resources are often more limited, Viva Engage represents an opportunity to digitally transform communication and the flow of information underlying internal processes with minimal investment. An investment that can be further maximized through the integration of Viva Engage with the SharePoint Online company intranet.

In fact, a key strength is the native integration between the various Microsoft 365 products, Microsoft Viva, and Microsoft Power Platform. Starting from a simple solution like Viva Engage, it is possible to extend its features for communication and collaboration by integrating platforms like SharePoint and Teams, ultimately achieving a complete digital workplace tailored to the company's needs.

Viva Engage Conversations web part for SharePoint Online

Viva Engage vs Yammer: What is changing?

In March 2023, Microsoft initiated a significant change in the world of its business applications by starting the rebranding process that transformed Microsoft Yammer into Viva Engage.

This transition, successfully completed in December 2023, turned the world’s most widely used social app among organizations into a tool perfectly integrated with the Microsoft Viva suite, laying the foundation for a new communication experience.

Through the rebranding, it became possible to integrate all the features of Yammer into the Viva ecosystem, then expand them and create a solution capable of modernizing internal corporate networks, previously based on Yammer, and transforming them into a more sophisticated digital experience inspired by the most popular social networks, such as Instagram and TikTok.

Viva Engage, therefore, doesn’t come from a simple name change: in the Microsoft universe, the very concept of "rebranding" implies a radical change that goes beyond just renaming products. Viva Engage represents, in fact, the natural evolution of a platform that was no longer able to meet the communication needs of companies and users.

With a keen eye on employee experience, this module of Microsoft Viva enhances corporate communication in terms of engagement, even thanks to entirely new features compared to those offered by Yammer. For example, the Leadership Corner, which allows for direct dialogue between management and business teams, or the introduction of Advanced Analytics, which provides detailed metrics to monitor and improve participation in internal conversations.

Viva Engage licensing and how to access

Viva Engage is included in two main licenses:

• Viva Engage Core, included in the standard Microsoft 365 licenses. It includes the main features of the app.
  
• Viva Suite, which includes products from the Viva family (excluding Viva Sales). It includes the main features of the app and upcoming features.
  

Companies interested in adopting Viva Engage should first assess the type of Microsoft 365 license in use. If you already have a license that includes Viva Engage Core, such as one of the Microsoft 365 standard plans or Office 365 Enterprise, there is no need to purchase additional licenses to access the main features of the Microsoft Viva module.

However, to access the advanced features and premium experiences of Microsoft Viva Engage, such as the Leadership Corner, campaigns, and Advanced Analytics metrics, you need to purchase the Viva Suite license. This license allows you to expand the use of Viva Engage, integrating it with other Viva family products, thus offering a unified experience to enhance the workplace experience.

To access Viva Engage, once you have the appropriate license, users need to log into their Microsoft 365 account and find Viva Engage in the app portal. Alternatively, the IT administrator can configure direct access to the app through Microsoft Teams, integrating Viva Engage into the navigation bar.

It is useful to remember that the implementation of advanced features may require additional IT support for activation and configuration customization, especially when used in synergy with other Viva tools.

The experts that are part of the intranet.ai team can guide companies through the entire adoption process, from choosing the most suitable license for their needs to implementing Viva Engage in the Microsoft 365 digital workplace, at the heart of which is the SharePoint Online company intranet.

Overview of Microsoft Viva Engage

Viva Engage: What features does it offer?

Viva Engage inherits from Microsoft Yammer the most important features for business communication and collaboration: communities, conversations, and Q&A content.

However, the Microsoft Viva module for creating an internal social network is not just a simple copy of Yammer, as we mentioned earlier. Viva Engage introduces new features designed to improve communication between colleagues and their engagement in business initiatives.

Among the most interesting new features are the Leadership Corner, designed to facilitate dialogue with management members, and campaigns, ideal for promoting projects, values, and strategies to strengthen the company culture. In addition, important analytics features have been added, allowing you to monitor engagement in individual posts and participation in events.

Thanks to all these features, Viva Engage establishes itself as one of the best platforms on the market for internal social networking, offering a unique environment where communication, collaboration, and engagement intertwine to support employee experience strategies.

Posting announcements visible to the entire company audience in Viva Engage

Communities

Communities are the most obvious legacy of Microsoft Yammer. These are groups of users within the organization created to centralize discussions and share information on specific topics. Each user has the ability to create a community (unlike Teams groups) and invite colleagues to join.

Communities are based on Microsoft 365 groups, so they are always accompanied by:

• A SharePoint site to store shared content.
• A OneNote notebook to save notes useful for members.
• A Microsoft Planner instance to manage collective tasks.

The integration with Microsoft Stream (now part of Microsoft Stream on SharePoint) also allows you to organize live events, which are broadcast directly in a community and automatically archived in the app for later access, perhaps by those who couldn't attend the live session.

In addition to user-created communities, individual Viva Engage instances feature a default group called "All Company". This community brings together all users with a business account and is used to disseminate updates, information, and resources that are most useful to the organization's members.

The uniqueness of the "All Company" community is the possibility to exclude the general public from creating content so that only the group owners, selected by the organization, can contribute to the main communication flow.

Overview of communities in Viva Engage

Content creation

By clicking the box below the Community banner, the user accesses the area to create new content. They can choose from several types:

• Question, which enables the reply functionalities (such as choosing a Best Answer);
• Poll, which accompanies the post with single-choice options (such as "What is the preferred date for the next company event?");
• Compliments, useful for recognizing others' successes (for example, "A big thank you to the IT team for quickly resolving the server issue").
• Post, the traditional format common to all social networks, where it is possible to mention colleagues.

Community admins also have access to the Announcement, a content type that is automatically notified to all members, in order to spread urgent communications or important updates more quickly.

After choosing the type of content to post, the user can format the text, upload videos to be displayed directly in the post, attach documents, images, or GIFs, and specify the topics. These last ones represent an interesting feature of Viva Engage: they are indexed tags that simplify the search for content related to the same topic, such as #Innovation.

Finally, the platform offers monitoring features for published content, with analytics tools that allow measuring the engagement generated by the posts. For example, an admin can monitor how many people interacted with an announcement or a regular user can check the number of votes received in their latest poll to optimize future communications.

Examples of communications to be published on Viva Engage

Stories

A brand new feature that comes from the world of Instagram.

Stories can help businesses share their initiatives in a more direct and engaging way, strengthening internal brand communication. In addition, users can choose whether to do a live recording or upload pre-recorded videos, which will be shown to their followers and community members.

Stories can also be integrated into the SharePoint Online company intranet to increase the visibility of communications and facilitate content distribution within the organization.

Upload a story in Viva Engage

Storylines

Storylines are the content that the user displays on their Viva Engage profile to talk about their interests and get to know colleagues. The goal is to enhance the personal brand in the eyes of followers, following the model of online blogs.

This content can be shared via Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and Viva Connections, and enriched with images, videos, and links to encourage engagement. Engagement is further incentivized by the ability to react to colleagues' storylines through comments, likes, and shares.

By integrating with the Leadership Corner, storylines represent a strategic space for sharing successes and updates with the entire organization.

Leadership Corner

The Leadership Corner in Viva Engage is a space designed to connect business leaders with the organization, fostering a more direct and transparent dialogue. Through this feature, leaders can share strategies, updates, and success stories, breaking down the barriers that often separate the top executives from the rest of the team.

Messages posted in this section can be viewed not only in Viva Engage, but also on Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and Viva Connections, allowing leaders to reach colleagues in their everyday apps without disrupting their workflow.

In addition to facilitating the exchange of information, the Leadership Corner feature encourages active participation through Q&A sessions, targeted communication campaigns, and interactive posts. Colleagues can therefore engage in conversations by commenting, reacting, and resharing.

Finally, the Leadership Corner is characterized by its ability to strengthen the sense of belonging to the company community. Through inspiring content for everyone, leaders can promote the organization's values and create a deeper connection with their colleagues.

Overview of the Leadership Corner in Viva Engage

Campaigns

The Campaigns feature of Viva Engage is designed to bring members of an organization together around shared themes and goals, often at the heart of the company culture. Campaigns provide leaders and teams with a versatile tool to launch strategic initiatives, such as promoting sustainability, enhancing diversity and inclusion, or celebrating shared successes.

Through a structured approach, Campaigns transform ideas and values into concrete actions aimed at engaging the entire organization.

One of the key elements of this feature is the use of hashtags, which automatically link all content related to the campaign.

This not only simplifies navigation but also encourages user participation, as they can share experiences, ideas, and personal successes related to a specific internal campaign. It is precisely the collection of these stories that helps create a collective narrative.

Overview of a campaign in Viva Engage

Advanced Analytics

The new Advanced Analytics features in Viva Engage are designed to help organizations better understand internal trends and optimize user engagement accordingly.

Advanced analytics allows you to track key communication metrics, such as views, reactions, comments, and shares, providing a clear overview of the effectiveness of the content posted in Storyline, Campaigns, and Leadership Corner.

The goal is to accurately identify not only what works, but also how to improve content that is less engaged by the corporate audience, thereby increasing overall organizational engagement.

In this regard, a strength of advanced analytics is the segmentation of data. In fact, it is possible to analyze engagement by groups, teams, or specific roles, highlighting areas that may need more attention. For example, a team with lower participation levels can be targeted with specific initiatives, while the most successful content can be replicated to meet the needs and interests of colleagues.

However, the analysis is not limited to numbers: the data collected helps identify the type of content that generates the most interest or the best time to publish. Furthermore, it enables the evaluation of the alignment of communications with company values and goals.

Metrics for engagement in Viva Engage

Viva Engage and Copilot: What does the future hold?

Microsoft continues to redefine the concept of social networking in the workplace, and the introduction of Copilot in Viva Engage marks a decisive step forward in this direction. Announced in March 2024 as part of the new features in the Microsoft Viva suite and made available from July of the same year, Copilot now integrates artificial intelligence into the Viva Engage experience to simplify internal communication.

First of all, to access these brand-new AI-based features, companies must have a licensing plan that includes Viva Engage (licenses that we reviewed at the beginning of our overview) along with the additional license for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Once it's confirmed that their subscription meets the requirements, IT administrators can enable Copilot from the Microsoft Admin Center, configuring it for specific user groups. After activation, Copilot will be accessible via Microsoft Teams, where it integrates with Viva Engage features such as Community, Storyline, and Q&A.

Speaking of Viva Engage's features, Copilot provides valuable support to users for quickly creating engaging content for the corporate audience. Additionally, the AI provides valuable insights into interactions within communities, suggesting ways to increase colleague participation and identifying topics of interest that could be explored in future posts.

Business leaders, in particular, can use Copilot to create communications and targeted campaigns or to quickly respond to frequently asked questions within the communities, the Leadership Corner, or during a live event.

The combination of artificial intelligence and the dynamics of a modern social network enables the creation of a digital environment where information flows smoothly and interactions turn into tangible value for the organization. A game changer for all companies looking to use technology not only to improve processes but also to enhance connections between people.

What is Microsoft Viva Engage?

Microsoft Viva Engage is a module of the Microsoft Viva suite designed to create an internal company social network. It facilitates communication and collaboration among employees through thematic communities and sharing tools.

What are the main features of Microsoft Viva Engage?

The main features of Microsoft Viva Engage include thematic communities, social media-style updates called Storyline, and a Leadership Corner for direct communication between management and employees.

How does Microsoft Viva Engage differ from Yammer?

Microsoft Viva Engage inherits the features of Yammer but introduces new elements such as Storyline and Leadership Corner, offering a more modern experience integrated with other Microsoft Viva modules.

How do you access Microsoft Viva Engage?

Microsoft Viva Engage is available as an app within Microsoft Teams. Users can access it directly from Teams, making integration with daily work tools easier.

What are the licensing requirements to use Microsoft Viva Engage?

Microsoft Viva Engage is included in Microsoft 365 licenses that include Yammer. To access advanced features, specific Microsoft Viva suite licenses may be required.

How does Microsoft Viva Engage support company culture?

Microsoft Viva Engage promotes a participatory company culture through tools that facilitate sharing ideas, feedback, and updates among all members of the organization, regardless of role or position.

What are the upcoming features for Microsoft Viva Engage?

Microsoft Viva Engage will integrate artificial intelligence-based features, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, to enhance the user experience and provide more effective tools for communication and collaboration.

How does Microsoft Viva Engage integrate with other Microsoft 365 tools?

Microsoft Viva Engage seamlessly integrates with tools such as SharePoint, Teams, and Outlook, offering a unified experience and facilitating access to information and collaboration among employees.

Can you use Microsoft Viva Engage on mobile devices?

Yes, Microsoft Viva Engage is accessible via the Microsoft Teams mobile app, allowing employees to stay connected and updated even while on the go.

How can I start using Microsoft Viva Engage in my organization?

To start using Microsoft Viva Engage, make sure your organization has the appropriate Microsoft 365 licenses. Then, you can access Microsoft Viva Engage through Microsoft Teams and begin creating or participating in relevant communities.